xii, 694 pages, 9 unnumbered pages of plates : 25 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 675-678)

Includes indexes

The Oratorio before Handel : Terminological confusion -- Origins in liturgical music drama and mystery plays -- Italian oratorio in the seventeenth century -- German passion -- Cosmopolitan Hamburg -- The Early Works and Italian Operas : Early influences -- The Hamburg works -- The Italian period -- Musical and dramatic idiom of the cantatas -- First London works -- English church music -- Brockes passion -- The Italian operas -- Formal limitations of opera seria -- A Dramatic gift stunted

The Handelian Synthesis : Status of the English oratorio -- Historical outline -- Fortuitous birth -- Quality of Handel's genius -- Dramatic structure of the oratorios -- Effects of the ban on staging -- Nature of dramatic music -- Handel, Racine, and Greek tragedy -- Pantheism and dramatic detachment -- Range of characterization -- Flexibility of design -- Rivals and successors

Handel's Style in the Oratorios : The International style -- Nature of Handel's originality -- Handel and Bach -- The Borrowings -- Improvisation and response to stimuli -- Associations of key and mode -- Affektenlehre -- Musical imagery -- View of nature -- Word-setting -- Musical handling of the chorus -- Influence of English theatre -- Decline of the da capo -- Structure of airs -- Dramatic duets and ensembles -- Instrumental symphonies -- Overtures -- Orchestration

The Background to Performance : The Autographs and Printed Librettos : Place of performance -- Regulations in Lent -- Charity and club performances -- Provincial festivals -- Copyright in the eighteenth century -- The Walsh scores -- Handel's autographs and sketches -- His method of composition -- Collaboration with librettists -- Changes made in revivals -- Defects of Chrysander's edition -- Handel's printed librettos -- Their value for dating -- A Dispute over copyright -- Provincial librettos

The Oratorios in Performance : Corrupt traditions -- Handel's orchestra -- His oratorio singers -- Rehearsals and conduct of performances -- His compound organ and harpsichord -- Correct use of continuo instruments -- 'Additional accompaniments' -- Conventions of performance -- Free embellishment -- Baroque expression -- Crotch and eighteenth-century tempo -- Interpretation of Handel's markings -- The Oratorios on the stage

The Oratorio and English Taste : Disastrous influence of the oratorios -- Aesthetic and ethical values -- Jeremy Collier and the revival of Puritanism -- Reception of early oratorios -- Biblical words in the theatre -- Press controversy over Messiah -- Tastes of the new middle class -- Eighteenth-century aesthetics -- The Methodists and Evangelicals -- 'Theatrical oratorios' at Cambridge -- The Crystal Palace festivals -- Shaw's criticism -- The View of Handel -- The Inevitable reaction -- Handel today

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